Project Courage And The Tour Of Honour Supporting Veterans And First Responders

Apr 19, 2023 - 2 years ago

Inland Truck & Equipment along with Link-Belt Excavators have joined forces to support this year’s Honour House Society’s Tour of Honour. By Ronald Mullins.

Inland Project Courage — *More than 100 Emergency Services members turned out to Inland Truck & Equipment in Penticton to welcome the Tour of Honour. Ronald Mullins photo.*

Late last year it was announced that, as a result of the Inland CharityDRIVE campaign, Inland Truck & Equipment had been awarded the CASE Construction Equipment’s prestigious Community Builder Award. The CharityDRIVE was Inland’s, company wide team endeavour that, along with the support of CASE Construction Equipment and their customers, raised over a quarter-of-a-million dollars for Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon.

Now, the Inland Truck & Equipment team, along with the CASE Construction Equipment team, are hard at work in preparation to once again be a Presenting Sponsor for the ultra-successful August Family Foundation’s Okanagan Dream Rally. A charity that in just a very few short years, has raised over 3.3 million dollars for Ronald McDonald House Charities as well as the KGH Foundation.

Recently, Corey Timms, Inland Truck & Equipment’s, Director of Construction Equipment Sales announced that the company, this time in partnership with Link-Belt Excavators, has launched Project Courage and had volunteered to be a key sponsor of this year’s Honour House Society’s prestigious Tour of Honour. Corey explained that “Project Courage is symbolic of the courage required by members of the Canadian Armed Forces and all Emergency Services personnel, who daily put our needs ahead of their own. But it also represents the courage to reach out to an organization like the Honour House Society when it’s their turn to lean on the corporate world as well as individuals for help with the financial challenges they face daily in their work assisting those in need.”

“Everyone here at Inland, along with our good friends at Link-Belt Excavators, as well as our valued customers, are privileged to be able to lend both our financial and physical support to the Honour House Society, Honour House and Honour Ranch”.
— Corey Timms

The Honour Tour

The Tour of Honour is the Honour House Society’s major fundraising event and is designed to bring attention to the injuries and illnesses that face those who put on a uniform and keep us all safe from harm, each and every day, both at home and wherever duty calls. Funds raised during the Tour of Honour will be used to support the charities’ two locations, Honour House and Honour Ranch.

This year’s tour kicked off in early April in New Westminster, British Columbia and will see the Tour of Honour team, with their highly visible Humvee and matching cargo trailer, visit hundreds of locations throughout British Columbia and the Yukon. It is anticipated that the tour will wind up in early June with a huge Celebration of Success at Inland Truck & Equipment’s Langley location, 26770 Gloucester Way.

The Honour House

Honour House, a beautiful fully renovated and updated, 11 bedroom, heritage home located on a quiet, tree lined street in New Westminster, is a refuge, a ‘home away from home’ for members of the Canadian Armed Forces, all Emergency Services personnel and Veterans, along with their families to stay, completely free of charge, while they are receiving medical care and treatment in the Metro Vancouver Area.

The Honour Ranch

Honour Ranch, officially unveiled in October 2019, is located just south of Ashcroft, British Columbia, and is a serene retreat, an oasis of healing, education, and personal growth for members of our Canadian Armed Forces, all Emergency Services personnel and Veterans, as well as their families. Here, these often unsung heroes can discover cutting edge strategies to help them navigate the debilitating emotional and physical stresses of a selfless commitment to service and sacrifice.

Both Honour House and Honour Ranch receive no direct funding and are fully supported by fundraising, the volunteer efforts of many, as well as the charitable donations of both individuals, businesses and corporations.

Recently approximately 80 Inland Truck & Equipment employees, family and friends, joined with Honour House Society’s president, Allan De Genova and other society volunteers, all giving freely of their time, working on very critical wildfire mitigation and general spring clean-up at Honour Ranch.

Everyone Is Welcome

Here they go… again, this time with Project Courage. “Everyone here at Inland, along with our good friends at Link-Belt Excavators, as well as our valued customers, are privileged to be able to lend both our financial and physical support to the Honour House Society, Honour House and Honour Ranch”. stated Corey Timms. “We look forward to hosting the Tour of Honour at a number of our locations in both British Columbia and the Yukon and we invite our customers and the general public to join with us as together we support this very deserving cause.”

To get things rolling, on April 5th Rick Datoff, General Manager of Inland Truck & Equipment, Penticton along with all the staff welcomed The Tour of Honour, volunteer R.S.M. Heath Porritt 15th Field Artillery and his team to their Penticton location. They were joined by over 100 uniformed members of Penticton’s Fire-Rescue, RCM Police, BC Ambulance and Search & Rescue personnel as well as Inland customers and the general public. “This is such a great turnout for our first Tour of Honour hosting event,” stated Rick Datoff. “Yes it is the Tour of Honour but it is our honour to host everyone today. This is such a wonderful project to get behind.”

Inland Truck & Equipment along with Link-Belt Excavators through Project Courage has made an initial donation of $10,000 to get the Honour House Society, Tour of Honour 2023 started and will then be adding and additional $250 to that total for every Link-Belt Excavator machine that is sold.

To find out when the Tour of Honour will be visiting an Inland Truck & Equipment location near you check www.inland-group.com/projectcourage.

Ronald Mullins is a Kelowna, B.C. based writer / photographer and is a regular contributor to Supply Post.